


A Rose's Thorns

by FH14



Series: Fictober 2019 [6]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Minor Finn/Rose Tico, Possible Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Prompt Fic, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-31 08:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21128573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FH14/pseuds/FH14
Summary: Rose wasn't sure how she ended up sitting across a luxurious dining room table from Emperor Sheev Palpatine, drinking wine and listening to opera. All she knew was that he was very famously dead, and something was very, very wrong.





	A Rose's Thorns

**Author's Note:**

> This story potentially contains spoilers for _The Rise of Skywalker_, and pulls directly from materials seen in the teaser trailer that was screened at Star Wars Celebration in May 2019. It also includes the character Klaud, who is portrayed here in a way that might not at all be accurate but just according to my unfounded speculation. I also wrote this before the October trailer's release, and I'm actually posting it right as its supposedly airing on Monday Night Football. So, if this had immediately ages badly, blame that.
> 
> This fic is a fill for the [Spooktober Challenge](https://spooktoberchallenge.dreamwidth.org/732.html) prompt "Rebel", though it doesn't _really_ incorporate Halloween or direct themes of the season.
> 
> Special Thanks to [jammerlea](https://jammerlea.tumblr.com/) for beta-ing this at the very last minute when I rushed to get it done before the trailer came out.

She wasn't quite sure how she had ended up in this situation.

That wasn't something she could say very often anymore. Once she had joined the Resistance, she had grown used to ending up in the most bizarre and unexpected scenarios. Zapping would-be deserters and carting them off for punishment. Freeing a fleet of fathiers from a towering city of false glamor. Kissing a dashing man after saving him from his own misguided impulses.

Processing the death of her sister…

But she couldn't process what was happening now. Sitting at this table, in this dress, across from one of the most evil beings to ever roam the galaxy - the very famously dead Emperor Palpatine.

"Come now, my dear," The creature before her sneered. The table was long, like something out of a fairy tale about a long forgotten kingdom, but he was still close enough that she could see his bleached, wrinkled face from beneath his dark hood. "Enjoy this wine while you can. The supply of Alderranean wine is exceedingly rare. And even fewer will get to enjoy it listening to this composition."

He lifted his bony arm to gesture to the sound that seemed to emanate from nowhere. Rose had only heard something like it a couple of times before, most recently on Canto Bight.

"Opera…" Rose murmured to herself, taking a sip of the wine. She hated admitting to herself that it was one of the most incredible things she had ever consumed, but she immediately linked the sensation in her mind with General Organa and her lost home world. She wouldn't allow herself to credit Palpatine with this.

"So… Emperor…" She said, the word practically scraping her tongue as she willed herself to say it.

"Please," The creature purred, folding his hands in front of him. "No need to be so formal. Call me Sheev."

"Sheev?"

"My name," he said, with an odd amount of relish in his tone. He leaned forward, his eyes boring their way into Rose in a way that made her skin crawl. "We are among friends, are we not?"

Rose let out an involuntary gasp of laughter.

Sheev didn't seem to mind. Instead, he leaned back, rolling his head up toward the ceiling and closing his eyes, apparently losing himself in the music for a moment. "You ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?"

"Oh, is he the one singing this?" Rose asked, the air of mockery pitching her voice higher than normal.

Sheev's eyes snapped open, and they rolled, almost snake-like, until they were fixed directly on her. "No."

Rose took another sip of wine, tugging anxiously at the long sleeve of her dress. If she was being honest with herself, the designer gown was one of the more surprising aspects of this situation. It almost looked like something Senator Padme Amidala would've worn, though mercifully it did not have a matching elaborate headdress. The last thing she needed was something like that literally weighing on her mind.

Instead, Sheev had gone ahead with his story, but something about the tone of his voice softly lulled her to the point that she couldn't focus on any of his words. Not that he seemed to notice. It was becoming increasingly clear that, at least for this part of his performance, she was merely set dressing.

Fading into the background, a cog in a larger machine. Just like before.

No one ever pays attention to people like her.

_That's it!_

Rose willed herself to regain focus, coming to just as Sheev began describing how an enterprising Sith figured out you could boil water for noodles using a lightsaber. While he waved his arms in the throws of his tale, she tentatively slid her hand onto the table, waiting until his eyes were no longer on her, and carefully slid one of the many knives from her place-setting into her sleeve.

A split second later, Sheev stopped talking, and turned his gaze directly on her once more.

They sat in silence, and Rose knew he must have seen what she'd done, but she forced herself to remain still while every instinct she had told her to stand up and run.

Finally, Sheev spoke again.

"What is your experience in high society?"

Rose blinked. At a complete loss for words, she opened her mouth, as if words would magically appear. Instead she simply stared back at him, slack-jawed.

A satisfied look crept across Sheev's face, and he reached his hand up into the air and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the music in the air changed to a louder, more upbeat song with someone belting out lyrics in Galactic Basic.

Sheev stood up, his robe draping down his pale form as he pivoted his bony arm in her direction.

"May I have this dance?"

Rose didn't even try to verbalize a response this time. Instead, she silently forced herself to stand.

* * *

She wasn't sure when they had begun to dance.

Rose was certain she would've remembered the moment Sheev touched her, much less held her in his arms like he did now, guiding her along the open floor in this big, elaborate room.

"Yes, good," Sheev said softly. "Follow my lead."

Rose could taste bile in her mouth. She so desperately wanted to pull herself free. To scream at him and run for the door. But the cool metal of the knife rubbing against the skin of her arm grounded her. What happened next could mean the difference between life and death.

Instead, she did the only thing she could think of.

"How is this music playing?" She said, mentally kicking herself for the tremor in her voice. "I don't see any speakers anywhere."

"It's the Force," Sheev said, almost like he was addressing a small child.

"But that's not how the Force works," Rose said. "This has to be from speakers, or from some other kind of hardware in this room."

Sheev froze, and Rose felt his grip on her shoulder tighten. "Who are you to say how the Force works? You have no connection to it. You are nothing."

"All living things have a connection to the Force," Rose said, Rey's voice flowing through her mind louder than this music ever could. "That's how the Force works. Surely, you of all people would know this?"

Sheev snarled, and she instantly felt herself released from his grip and propelled back. His body, which until a moment ago had been sunken and relaxed, stiffened. Sheev Palpatine was not a very tall man, but in that moment he towered over her.

"You stand here and lecture me," He said, his words coming out with a deliberate click of his tongue. "I have struck down Jedi so quickly they couldn't even move to defend themselves. Do you think that you have any chance against me?"

"Then why haven't you?" Rose asked. "All you've done is put on this elaborate charade. Why keep me alive?"

In that moment, Sheev lunged at her, arms outstretched, and in that moment Rose Tico was certain she was going to die.

But then… she didn't.

Not that she wasn't in pain. His hand pressed harshly on her throat, but it wasn't enough to keep her from breathing. Instead, it almost seemed as if he was frozen, physically unable to progress his assault any further.

"You can't hurt me," Rose said, suddenly feeling a sense of ease return to her body. "You already knew that, didn't you?"

Sheev remained silent, completely still aside from a small twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Rose lowered her arm, allowing the knife to slide out of her sleeve and into her hand. She held it up in front of her face, staring at it for a moment, and then glanced at Palpatine, as if daring him to take it out of her hand, before finally holding the sharp edge up to his throat.

"Can I hurt you?" Rose asked, and pressed down with the blade.

Rose didn't feel any resistance as the blade plunged into Palpatine's neck, but he gave no signal that he felt it. Only when she pulled the knife back did it become clear.

"You're not really here, are you?" She said.

In that moment, she felt his grip on her neck disappear, and she fell to the ground, the knife making a loud metallic clank as it hit the hardwood floor of the hall.

She stared at it a moment, the full extent of what was happening washing over her.

"No, you're really here," She said, looking up at the figure looming above her, his face obscured in shadow as the lights around them began to fade. "But you're not alive. All of this… all of this is an illusion!"

Sheev let out a strangled cry, letting his hood fall back, revealing the sharp, violent yellow of his eyes fully for the first time. Rose braced herself, but as soon as he made his move, lunging toward her, arms outstretched. He vanished.

And so did everything else.

* * *

Rose tried not to overthink what had just happened. Like, for example, whether the wine was real or if she had been drinking something foul instead. She at least knew that she had, in fact, been wearing her uniform all along, which was something of a relief. She remembered everything leading up to it now; how she had found herself sitting at that table, across from that creature. But it was the purpose of what had happened that was the real question. Was he trying to get information out of her? Possess her body somehow?

It didn't do any good to dwell on it in that moment. Rather, she focused all her energy on getting out of this prison of rusted metal and darkness. It was only when she found an opening, the warm sunlight acting like a beacon, that she knew she was actually, finally, out of the illusion.

That, and she heard the voice she wanted to hear the most.

"You let her go in there alone?!"

Finn was gesturing angrily at Connix, who was looking away sheepishly. Behind them, Snap Wexley was desperately trying to calm down Klaud, who had become distressed and was letting out a loud, earsplitting wail.

Rey stood nearby, surveying the scene with a look of dismay. Though, as her eyes swept past the melee and towards the wreckage at the bottom of the hill, her expression immediately changed.

"Rose!" She cried out. The others immediately stopped arguing and turn to face her as well, relief spreading across their faces.

Well, except for Klaud, who was still wailing and knocking over equipment.

Rose broke into a sprint, racing towards the group at the top of the hill. For his part, Finn was already making his way down the hill as well. In mere moments, she could once again be in the tight embrace of the man she loved.

That would have to wait, though.

"Sorry, later," Rose said breathlessly as she brushed past Finn, leaving him standing on the side of the hill with his arms outstretched towards empty air. "I have to take care of something first."

"What?" Finn yelled from behind her, but Rose didn't turn around. Instead, she moved as fast as she could toward where Rey and Connix were standing.

"I- I told them you had the most experience for this type of reconnaissance work," Connix stammered as soon as Rose was within distance. "What happened?"

"Ship's haunted," Rose said, jogging past her and up to Rey instead. After bending down to catch her breath, she looked up at her friend, who stared back down at her in unmasked confusion.

"What?" Connix asked, the incredulity dripped from it.

Rose turned to look at her. "Ship's haunted," she repeated, almost matter of fact. Connix simply stared back at her in stunned silence. Behind her, Snap had a similar reaction that was interrupted when Klaud let out another loud wail.

"Yeah, I know Klaud," Rose sighed, before turning back to Rey. "I need to borrow this," She said, pointing toward the lightsaber.

Rey stared at her, mouth agape. "I… huh?"

"I'll explain more later. But I need to do this!" She said, puffing out her chest.

Rey glanced down at her lightsaber and then back up at Rose, still clearly dumbstruck. "I… Okay?"

"Thanks!" Rose said, taking the lightsaber out of Rey's hand and turning back towards where she had come.

Finn stood at the top of the hill again, catching his breath and looking completely shell-shocked. A feeling of guilt fluttered through Rose, but it was quickly offset by the resolve she felt flushing out every doubt and misgiving she had about herself. About what she could do and her place in all of this.

_You told me I was nothing_, she thought as she stared down at the ruins of the Death Star, _but you underestimated me once and you failed. This time, I won't hesitate._

"Well," She said, igniting the lightsaber for the first time, the power flowing from it only making her more sure of her next move. "Time to go kill a ghost."


End file.
